


Star Child

by phoenixnz



Category: Smallville
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 17:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17370317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixnz/pseuds/phoenixnz
Summary: What if Lara met with Martha?





	Star Child

**Author's Note:**

> This is from the episode Blue. A oneshot prompted by a comment from someone on another site.

Lara wandered around the farm. Kal-El had told her everything that had happened from the time she’d been cloned by Zor-El. He’d stolen her DNA and used it in a cloning experiment, against her will.

She’d always known her brother-in-law could be vindictive. He’d hated the fact that Jor-El had married her, where he’d been forced to marry Alura. Zor-El’s marriage had not been a happy one. It was hard to believe that the union had produced such a sweet child in Kara.

“Mom?”

She looked at her son. He looked so much like his father when Jor-El was younger. So young and so idealistic. Such a brilliant scientist, but so full of love and compassion.

“I’m all right, Kal-El,” she said.

Long ago, when they were first married, she and Jor-El had talked about the names they would give their children. Kal-El had been a famous ancestor of her husband’s, instrumental in saving many lives in the first civil war on Krypton. Twenty years into their marriage she had almost given up hope of ever having a child of her own.

She had wished for one for so long and the discovery that she was pregnant, at a time when the war with Black Zero had almost decimated the planet, was both a blessing and a curse. As much as Lara had rejoiced the impending birth of her son, she dreaded what his future would hold.

Jor-El had tried to comfort her by saying that he planned to somehow change their son’s destiny by sending him to Earth to be raised there. If Krypton should survive the war, she hoped they would have been able to join him.

Of course, since her DNA had been taken before she knew exactly what her husband had planned, Lara hadn’t known anything about the Kent farm, or the people who would eventually raise her son.

Now she was here. In the farmhouse where her baby boy had grown up.

“Tell me about her,” she said, looking at the photograph of the lovely redheaded woman. Kal-El had shown her a snapshot which had been hidden behind the photograph of Martha Kent. It had been proof that she had been there.

“What do you need to know?” Kal-El asked with a little grin. He was clearly happy she was here, however she had come to be.

“Mom is … I don’t really know what to tell you. She’s a senator. She moved to Washington DC six months ago. I miss her, but she’s doing really well.”

“What about your … Jonathan, you said his name was?”

Kal-El, no, Clark, she thought. His Earth name was Clark. It somehow suited him. Clark looked down, thick eyelashes brushing his cheeks. She sensed a deep sadness.

“He died. It was a heart attack. I … It was my fault.”

“Oh, no, Kal-El,” she said. “How could it be your fault?”

“I wish I could explain, Mom. I do. I just can’t.”

She decided to change the subject and asked him about his life. She listened as he told her about his friends, his girlfriend and growing up in Smallville. Compared to Krypton, where the fear of attack was almost constant, life on Earth sounded so idyllic. He was at least happy here, although she sensed he hadn’t quite embraced who or what he was. That would come with maturity, she decided.

Clark had to leave the farm on an errand. Feeling restless, Lara decided to leave the farm on her own errand. She changed into clothes that her son had found for her, assuming they belonged to his girlfriend and left the property.

***

Martha had just returned from a meeting in the senate when her secretary buzzed.

“Yes Louise,” she said into the intercom.

“You have a visitor, Senator.”

She frowned. “I thought I didn’t have any appointments today?” she said.

She wondered if it was Clark. He’d visited her a couple of times; once with Lana. As much as she liked Lana, she was unsure about her son’s new, more open relationship with the brunette. The girl’s marriage to Lex had changed her, and not for the better as far as Martha was concerned.

“Is it my son?” she asked.

“No, ma’am. She says her name is Lara.”

Martha started at the name. It couldn’t be, could it? Clark had told her about finding the photograph of his birth mother and the vision he’d had, but it seemed impossible.

She turned back to the intercom, realising Louise was waiting for an answer.

“Oh, send her in, please,” she said.

She waited, wondering who or what she was going to find. The door opened and a blonde woman walked in. She appeared just as nervous as Martha felt. She was a beautiful woman, tall and slender, with almost an aristocratic bearing. Given what Martha knew of the hierarchy on Krypton, it was probably an apt assessment.

“Hello, Mrs Kent.”

Lara spoke in a soft, almost lyrical tone.

“Lara,” she said.

“I hope you don’t mind my coming here like this,” the woman said. “I wanted to meet the woman who raised my son. Kal-El,” she added.

“Clark. His name is Clark.”

“Yes, I know. It’s difficult for me. I …”

“I understand. Perhaps we could take a walk. It’s a beautiful day outside.”

“Yes, thank you. I think that would be very nice.”

They walked together in the bustling city. Capitol Hill was not far from the Mall where they could walk around in the open air. Being November, it was a cool day, despite the sunny weather, but it was the best way for them to talk without being interrupted. Martha didn’t want to have to explain to her colleagues how she had come to meet the woman who had given her her only son.

“Are you cold?” Martha asked, forgetting the woman would have the same powers as her son.

“No, but thank you. Mrs … Martha … may I call you Martha?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“I know this is difficult for both of us. If there had been a way to save Krypton, Kal-El might never have come here. I just wanted you to know that I admire you for the way you raised my … our son. He is everything his father and I dreamed he would be. He is compassionate and loving and I know he has a great future here.”

“Oh, I can’t take all the credit,” Martha told her. Lara looked puzzled. “I am sure that you and Jor-El played a part in who he is. Although I do wonder … Clark has a difficult relationship with Jor-El.”

Lara nodded. “Yes, he did explain to me about the fortress. I fear Jor-El was a little, hmm, perhaps short-sighted is the word? Thinking Kal-El would obey without question.”

Martha smirked slightly. “Clark is very much like Jonathan. Both stubborn.”

“Jor-El too,” Lara said with a sigh. “He could be very obstinate at times, but I did love him dearly.” They walked in silence for a few moments. “Kal-El was our miracle baby. We tried for years to have a child of our own and we’d almost given up hope.”

“I too had trouble,” Martha said. “I was told I would never be able to have a child of my own, but somehow a child came to me. Because of the sacrifice you and Jor-El made. Thank you.”

Lara stopped walking and looked at her, her expression bittersweet.

“It’s I who should be thanking you, Martha. You also sacrificed much to protect Clark. I know he is the man he is today because of you and your husband.”

Martha smiled at her. The two women walked on, forever bound by their mutual love for the child from the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> We all know continuity was all over the place in the show. We know Zor-El stole Lara's DNA, so I decided he did it right around the time she found out she was pregnant, but didn't know the details of Jor-El's plan to send their son offworld yet. As for the name, Kara named him in the episode, but I imagine there was an ancestor named Kal-El somewhere in the bloodline, so that's what I'm going with.


End file.
